My Second Convention/First Reading – Horrorfind 14
Horrorfind 14 Banner at entrance.
So it’s the day after I got home from the long trek back from the United States. It was the second convention I’ve attended and nowhere near my last. We rolled into the hotel late on Friday but still in time to catch up with a lot of our friends. I wanted to get to the readings, but I ended up just being the social butterfly the entire night and meeting as many people as I can. We ended up outside on the curb, drinks in hand and people watching. (I love that part.) I ended up crawling into bed WAY too late, or is that early in the morning… but not without setting a few alarms on my cell phone.
The alarms go off WAY too early, but that’s why I set more than one. I know me and I’m bound to turn off the first one and then miss whatever I’m supposed to be waking up for. I sit up in bed, trying to clear the beer fog out of my head, or maybe I’m still drunk… I’m not sure, but I know I have to wake up for something. Oh yeah, I finally work past the temporary memory loss and remember I wanted to attend Tom Monteleone’s reading, which was at 10am.
Tom Monteleone
*(We chatted later about him getting stuck with a horrible time slot… People do like to drink at these things.)
I had my first reading this weekend, and Kelli Owen told me I had to see Tom read. She was right. He really keeps the audience interested, he walks around the room, and even uses voices for different characters. I was really impressed. (Not that I would be walking around during my reading, it was my first and I’m pretty kultzy. I opted to stand at the podium for the entirety of my reading.) My time slot wasn’t til 4pm so I went back to the room to find the rest of my crew and regroup.
I made sure to make it to Kelli Owen‘s reading at 200pm. She read an awesome excerpt from her new novel “White Picket Prisons“. (I’ve read it and I highly recommend it.) The girl next to me nearly lost her shit when Kelli got to the part with the eyeball. Speaking of eyeballs Kelli had some awesome shwag to give away as well, everything was eyeballs. 🙂 Nicole Vlachos read from her new novel, “In The Absence of Sun” for the second half of the hour. It was her first reading as well, but she did a great job.
Kelli Owen
330pm I’m in my hotel room, checking the clock every two minutes. I’ve practiced my reading twice now. I have avoided beer for the entire afternoon (I was drinking vodka and flavored water though, I didn’t need to be sober, just not burp-y.) I was ready for my reading time. We decided to go down early as I wanted to set out some LampLight Magazine shwag on the seats before people showed up. (Yay, free bookmarks!)
400pm The room was pretty full, I was a little nervous but not as bad as I thought I was going to be. My friend Dickie had my IPhone and was ready to record the reading and I was ready to read. People were still coming in, so I didn’t start just right on time… Plus the other author who was supposed to be reading with me, wasn’t there yet. All in all, she didn’t show up so I got the hour reading slot. 😀
Mandy DeGeit (ME!) 😀
I didn’t use the whole hour since I chose to read my flash stories, “Fatty” and “Summer Break”. I stuck with my decision to read those. I don’t think I went too fast, I was loud enough and I got through the reading.
*(After watching the video, I know I was a little fast, more so during the Q&A, but it was my first reading so I can only improve. My volume wasn’t too bad, it was a just a little room… and that would explain the heat issue.
I was sweaty and getting attacked by that freaking fly, but I did it. People enjoyed it, one of the girls in the audience even reacted to the ending of “Fatty”, and that is exactly why I write. 🙂
We had some time left so we were lucky enough to get a surprise reading by Michele Mixell, 2nd place winner of Yorkfest with her story “It Roars”. We still got out early, which was nice, since it was crazy hot in the little reading room.
Thanks to everyone who came out for the reading.
I have video which will is posted on Youtube. (The audio isn’t great, but it’s not bad.)
The rest of the con was what cons are known for, lots of drinks, lots of new people and lots of laughs. I had a great weekend and came away with some new connections. If you haven’t had the chance to attend a convention yet, you should add that to your bucket list. There are tons of them around, I should know, I keep adding more to my roster.
YOUTUBE VIDEOS
Part One of Live Reading at Horrorfind 14 – “Fatty”
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